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Agate is an area in anairport terminal that controls access to apassenger aircraft. While the exact specifications vary from airport to airport and country to country, most gates consist of a seated waiting area, a counter and a doorway leading to the aircraft. A gate adjacent to the stand where the aircraft is parked may be acontact gate, providing access by way of ajet bridge, or aground-loaded gate, providing a path for passengers to leave the building to board viamobile stairs orairstairs built into the aircraft itself. Aremote stand serves an aircraft stand further away, providing access toground transportation to move passengers between the gate and the stand, where they board via stairs.[1]: 7-2
Each gate typically corresponds to one parking stand on the airport'sapron. A gate that provides access to multiple stands/jet bridges may have separate, designated doorways – sometimes termedsub-gates – for each stand. Commercial airport stands haveairside components to facilitatepassenger boarding and aircraftground handling.[1]: 6-2
While the termgate precisely refers only to the point of access for passengers, and the area where the aircraft itself is parked is precisely termed anaircraft stand,[2] in commercial passenger aviation the termgate is also used to refer to the gate and aircraft stand together as a single area.[1]: 7-2
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At most domestic gates, a single doorway connects the passenger waiting area with the jet bridge. International gates at U.S.international airports always have a second doorway to a separate corridor system that leads directly to the airport'sU.S. Customs and Border Protectionport of entry facility. For international arrivals from airports withoutpreclearance, the door leading to the waiting area is closed and all arriving passengers are directed through the second doorway to CBP immigration and customs inspection.
Before the era of thejet bridge or jetway, airline passengers embarked onto the aircraft from ground level viaairstairs. If initially indoors, passengers would exit the waiting area through a door to the outside and then passengers would proceed to the airstairs leading to the aircraft door. This method is still used for boarding smaller planes, boarding at smaller airports, and during periods of peak demand at larger airports using remote stands with passengers driven from the terminal usingairport buses when all jet bridges are in use.
The equipment is either airport or airline property, in most cases airport infrastructure.[3]
'Aircraft stand' means a designated area on an apron intended to be used for parking an aircraft.
